Extending Umbrel's Horizons: A User's Perspective

General Discussions
1

I’ve been having a fantastic experience with Umbrel, finding it leaps and bounds ahead of CasaOS and other competitors. However, there’s always room for innovation and growth, right? Here’s my take:

  1. App Store Expansion:

    • A wider app store with an extensive list of apps could be a game changer.
    • The ability to add custom apps from Docker and deploy directly from Git could be a sweet addition.

  2. Amazon Listing & Model Variants:

    • Having Umbrel Home on Amazon might reel in a lot more customers.
    • Offering model variants, like a base model with less RAM at a more friendly price point, alongside the existing pro model could cater to a broader audience.

  3. Website Upgrades:

    • Perhaps including comparisons with products like Zima board could provide a clearer picture to potential buyers.
    • A CPU comparison using well-recognized processors like Intel i5 or i3 against Zima board’s CPU could offer a familiar performance benchmark.

  4. UI/UX Tweaks:

    • The ability to drag and drop icons would be a nifty feature.
    • A dual UI setup - one being the current app UI and a new dashboard UI displaying vital stats like temperature, RAM usage, system load, storage, and app memory consumption, akin to what CasaOS showcases.

  5. Backup Functionality:

    • A backup feature to ensure data integrity and ease of recovery would be a welcoming addition.

  6. App Inspirations:

    • Apps like Discourse, OMV, Cloudflare Tunnels, Excalidraw, OpenVPN and AdGuard Home could be a great addition. Also, maybe taking a leaf out of Caprover, FreedomBox, Yunohost, or Cloudron’s book for app listings could widen the app variety.

Umbrel has been really easy to use so far, and with these tweaks, I believe it can become the go-to solution for many more enthusiasts and professionals alike. The road ahead is exciting, and I’m thrilled to be a part of this community!

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2

Oh, here’s another thought that just crossed my mind! It would be quite intuitive if, during an app’s installation, the app icon appears in a dull version when the App Store is closed. As the installation progresses, the icon could gradually brighten up or fully appear when the installation hits a certain percentage. Moreover, displaying the installation progress percentage on or near the icon, similar to how iOS does, would provide a clear visual cue on the installation status.

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3

It seems like Umbrel is somewhat of a hidden gem; I had to do a bit of digging to stumble upon it. There’s a saying that goes, “Good products don’t sell/market themselves.” While the quality and functionality of Umbrel are top-notch, a ramped-up marketing strategy could really propel Umbrel into the limelight. There’s a whole world out there that could benefit from what Umbrel offers, and it’s just about spreading the word and getting it in front of the right eyes. With the right marketing efforts, I believe Umbrel could skyrocket and become a household name in its domain.

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4

Thanks for the great thread and feedback. We appreciate the love, and fresh perspectives on Umbrel.

Thought I’d share a few things that you, and others, might find interesting too:

  • Outside of the main app-store, we also have portainer and the community app-store which gives users the ability to add custom apps like you mention, but I believe you’ve seen these. We hope to continue to expand and build out these features in the future.
  • We do have a back-up app in the works :eyes:

Hopefully we nail everything else soon in upcoming releases!

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